The next morning, the children could hardly eat their breakfast fast enough.
They were excited about visiting Huey again.
"Where's the fire?" Aunt Martha asked.
Cy gave his siblings a warning look.
They had promised not to speak about Huey to anyone.
"We're just going out to the woods today,"
Bobby said, his mouth full of pancake.
The previous day, Cy had lowered Huey back down the well, just as Huey had asked.
And Bobby had cleverly marked the trail that led to the well.
But after searching for the trail for a while, they seemed to be going in circles.
"Are you sure it's this way, Bobby?" Jane whined.
"What did you use to mark the trail?" asked Panther.
"Peanuts," replied Bobby.
Unfortunately for the children, a family of raccoons had eaten Bobby's trail markers.
"Just great! We'll never find the trail!" cried Cy.
The children looked around in confusion.
"Let's try this path," Panther said.
They headed off in the direction she pointed.
Hours passed, but there was still no sign of the well.
"We're lost. We'll never find Huey now," complained Jane.
"Wait! What's that over there?"
cried Cy, pointing and jumping up and down.
"Look! We found the well!"
The children raced to the well.
Cy quickly lowered the bucket and pulled up the shell.
"Huey, Huey," they called together.
Huey's head slowly peeked out of his shell.
"Oh, it's you again," he said sleepily.
"I was hoping that meeting you had been just a bad dream."
Panther decided to ask something friendly:
"Huey, how did you end up in this well?"
"It may look like just an old well to you," Huey said.
"But this well is also a traveling station for sea creatures like me."
"Where are you going?" asked Jane.
"I am journeying to Marvesti to meet my brothers.
This well is only a temporary stop."
"You mean, you're going to leave?" Bobby wailed. "When?"
"When the time is right," Huey replied in a firm voice.
"Now, do you have a wish or not?"
In all their excitement, the children hadn't thought about what to wish for.
They looked at each other.
"I haven't got all day and neither do you," Huey pointed out.
"I think Cy should make the first wish," said Jane.
"Thank you, Jane," said Cy smugly.
"Why should Cy go first?" complained Bobby.
While the three of them argued, Panther said softly to herself,
"I wish we were beautiful and handsome."
Suddenly Huey's fins glowed pink and red.
They opened and closed gracefully three times.
The children stopped arguing and looked at Huey in amazement.
Then each of them felt a light, soft mist on his or her face.
"What's happening?" Bobby asked in a scared voice.
"Your wish is being granted," replied Huey.
"Our wish? What wish?" Cy asked, puzzled.
They felt the mist lift from their faces.
"Your wish to become beautiful and handsome," said Huey.
Cy, Bobby, and Jane looked at each other, and at Panther too, wondering what Huey meant.
But none of the children recognized the faces staring back.
Just as Panther had wished, each of them was as beautiful or handsome as a movie star.